The Summertime Itch

Michael R. Haas, VMD, MSMedical DirectorVCA AVH Animal Hospital Rex looked miserable. His sad eyes said it all. But if they weren’t enough, the flaming-red, weeping skin over the rump of this pit bull punctuated by tufts of wet, scraggly looking hair told the rest of the story. Rex was as itchy as a dog can be and his self-inflicted wounds betrayed his agony. I tickled the tip of his ear and, sure enough, Rex’s right hind leg started churning like a wind mill – a positive response on what we call the pinna-pedal reflex test. Because Rex belongs to a good friend, I know very well that he is a dog of the fields and woods, creeks and streams. Putting these observations together along with the fact we are in the dead of summer, I pretty well knew the diagnosis. I scraped Rex’s inflamed skin with a scalpel blade and put the residue on a microscope slide. Peering through the eyepieces my suspicions were confirmed by the appearance of a creepy-looking creature, waving its short limbs in the proverbial breeze - the typical Sarcoptes mite. Female “scabies mites” make their living by burrowing tunnels in the skin of dogs, foxes and other canids, laying eggs as they go. Larval mites hatch, make their way to the skin surface, develop to the adult stage and then rendezvous with the opposite sex. The cycle is completed in three to four weeks. In the process the mites stimulate a vicious immune reaction in the host that causes intense itch. Mites are transferred from animal to animal usually by direct contact. They can’t live long off of the host. Occasionally, I see a mangy fox with a scraggly hair coat and patches of bare skin wander through my yard. These are common carriers of the disease. If a dog gets into a set-to with an infested fox, or comes across a carcass, the mites jump ship from fox to dog. As if an itchy dog weren’t bad enough, Sarcoptes mites sometimes make the jump from dog to people. Although they don’t complete their life cycle on people, their skin burrowing leads to intense inflammation and, according to those poor souls inflicted, the itchiest condition you can imagine. By all accounts, worse than the worst poison ivy you ever experienced. We jumped on Rex’s condition right away - therapeutic shampoo and antibiotics to treat secondary bacterial infection and the application of Paradyne, a simple little squeeze of liquid behind the neck. Three treatments, two weeks apart, are usually enough to do the trick. Rex will stay on Paradyne once a month for life to keep him mange free. This will also prevent heartworms and suppress intestinal parasites, control fleas and help to keep him free of ticks. Want to get a jump on all these bad guys? Talk to your veterinarian about the best monthly for your pet. Rex stopped by for a visit to my house last weekend – a way more comfortable pooch and his hair coat already looking better. Read Dr. Haas' Blog at www.avhvet.blogspot.com

The "Itch Mite"

The sarcoptes mite causes scabies which results in an intense itch for all who play host to these nasty little mites. They are spread from animal to animal and sometimes to human beings People with this condition say the itch is worse than the worst case of Poison Ivy.

BMCL Library Night at Wendy's

The Blue Mountain Community Library would like to thank everyone who participated in the “Library Night at Wendy’s” fundraiser on July 31. Your support is greatly appreciated and enables the Library to continue to serve the residents of the Slate Belt. A special thank you goes to Wendy’s Restaurant in Wind Gap, which donated 15% of sales that evening to the library. The library will have a Half-Price Book Nook Sale on Saturday, August 24, 2013 from 10:00 am to 2 pm in the library. Selected Adult and Children’s hardcover and paperback books, as well as CDs, videos, and puzzles, will be for sale in the downstairs portion of the library. All Book Nook items, located on the second floor, are priced at $1.00 or less. Gift certificates are also available to purchase for your favorite reader. The Wind Gap Middle School Summer Reading Program is now over. All books should be returned to the library by August 24. The library is currently collecting food items for the Hope UCC Food Bank in Wind Gap. Please drop off any non-perishable donations at the library until September 15th. Anyone interested in Knitting is welcome to join the “Knitters of the Roundtable” every Friday morning at 10:30 am on the second floor of the library. The group is for knitters of all skill levels. Spend the morning exchanging ideas and tips. Beginners should bring 9 inch needles and a 4 oz. skein of worsted yarn. The Blue Mountain Community Library is located at 216 S. Robinson Ave. in Pen Argyl. Hours of operation are M-Sa, 10:00 am to Noon, and M-Th, 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Call Lisa at 610-863-3029 for information or to become a volunteer. The website is www.bmcl.org.

Despite threatening skies and some frequent light rain showers, this 1929 Ford Rumble Seat Coupe was on display at the 14th Annual Sticks Reunion sponsored by the Hi-Winders and Mighty Mopars of the Slate Belt went on as scheduled Sunday at the site of the old Mountain View Drag Strip just south of Wind Gap. Sbtt Photo Larry Cory

The Pen Argyl Girls Field Hockey team practices in preparation for the new season. Sbtt Photo Haley Burns

Source: Blue Valley Times June 11, 2002

The Bangor Lioness Club awarded scholarships to 2002 Bangor Area High School graduates Billie Jo Fillbach and Andrea Holland .

Chirstopher Sagat, a 1995 graduate of Bangor High School, graduated from St. John's University in New York with a Masters Degree in Business Administration. He was also inducted into the Sigma Iota Epsilon fraternity, the national scholastic honor society for management.

Ashley Garrett, a 2002 graduate of Bangor High School, was awarded a World Study Scholarship to Arcadia University. She also was one of two recipients of a $500 scholarship from the Blue Valley Farm Show 4-H. The other winner was Brandy Hahn, a 2002 graduate of Pen Argyl Area High School

Holly Schimmel, a 1998 graduate of Bangor High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree on Psychology and Elementary Education from Muhlenberg College.

The Columbia Fire Company of Roseto awarded scholarships to Jeff Williams of Bangor High School, Eric Cerulli of Pius X and Lauren Eagle of Faith Christian.

This 1929 Franklin was among many interesting vehicles on display at the 14th Annual Sticks Reunion held Sunday at the old Mt. View Drag Strip just south of Wind Gap. Sbtt Photo Larry Cory

News Published Free in The Town Topics

If you want to publish an announcement about your organization, sign-ups for Little League, or similar information - this a FREE service provided by the Town Topics. Charges only result when you publish something in the form of display advertising. Send us your news by e-mail to sbtopics@rcn.com, call 610-863-1988, text 570-688-3724, facebook@sbtopics or mail to 335 S Franklin St., Pen Argyl, PA 18072.

Drought Impacts ColoradoRiver's Main Reservoirs

The bath tub type ring on Lake Mead shows the water level drop in this reservior of the Colorado River

By Terrell Johnson More than a dozen years of drought have begun to extract a heavy toll from water supplies in the West, where a report released last week forecast dramatic cuts next year in releases between the two main reservoirs on the Colorado River, the primary source of water for tens of millions of people across seven western states. After studying the problems facing the river for the past two years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation – the agency charged with managing water in the West – announced Friday that it would cut the amount of water released next year by Lake Powell in Arizona by 750,000 acre-feet, enough to supply about 1.5 million homes. It marks the first reduction in water flows since the mid 1960s, when the lake was created by the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. "This is the worst 14-year drought period in the last hundred years," said Larry Wolkoviak, director of the bureau's Upper Colorado Region. The move could trigger an "unprecedented water crisis within the next few years," the business coalition group Protect the Flows told USA Today, as reductions could have major ramifications for farmers and businesses downstream that depend on those flows, as well as on hydroelectric power generation. "The river is already severely endangered due to way too many dams and diversions," Gary Wockner of SavetheColorado.org told National Geographic, noting the impact the reduced flows also would have on fish and wildlife throughout the Grand Canyon. "The impact on the health of the Colorado River is unsustainable." It's difficult to overstate how important the Colorado River is to the West. From Lake Powell along the Arizona-Utah border, the river flows more than 300 miles through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead in Nevada, supplying drinking water to more than 36 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah. The river also supplies water to 22 native American tribes, 11 national parks, 7 national wildlife refuges, and 4 million acres of farmland, ThinkProgress reports. At Lake Mead, water levels will lower by 8 feet as a result of the reduction, after the lake already has dropped by about 100 feet since the current drought began in 2000, the Wall Street Journal notes. That would bring water levels there – now about 1,105 feet – within striking range of 1,075 feet, considered the threshold for the U.S. Department of the Interior to declare a water shortage. Low water levels at the Lake Mead Reservoir at Hoover Dam, shown in the 'bathtub ring' around the shoreline. The ring is colored white thanks to mineral deposits on surfaces that once were underwater. Today, Lake Powell is only about 45 percent of its full capacity while Lake Mead stands at 47 percent full, according to Chuck Collum of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which delivers water from the Colorado River to central and southern Arizona. He told USA Today that the forecast would mean CAP would see its water releases reduced by about 320,000 acre-feet, or a cut of about 20 percent. CAP says this will have no impact on the cities and Native American tribes it serves, however, because the reduction would impact largely underground storage and non-Indian agriculture. For Las Vegas, which draws most of its water from Lake Mead and grew by more than 6,000 people a month in the 2000s, the extremely dry conditions of the past decade already have prompted a raft of water restrictions and conservation measures -- including banning grass front lawns in new home developments. But the city isn't counting on conservation alone. If the conditions of the past several years continue indefinitely, by 2015 water levels at Lake Mead could drop below one of Las Vegas's two intakes there, imperiling the city's water supply. Today, its water authority is scrambling to build a third intake to allow it to draw water at levels below 1,000 feet -- an insurance policy if the lake's levels drop low enough to put its first intake out of service. "It's essentially a race for us," Scott Huntley of the Southern Nevada Water Authority told National Geographic, because the lake likely "is going to drop more precipitously than seen in the past." At their root, the potential water shortages both lakes face is the result of what has happened to the Colorado River over the past decade. Long-running drought across the Southwest has starved the river to its current low flows, and climate change is expected to reduce them by 5 to 20 percent over the next 40 years, University of Colorado geoscientist Brad Udall told Smithsonian Magazine. Its impacts will be felt at each stage of the river's development: less snowfall in the Rocky Mountains will mean less water enters the river at its start, while hotter air temperatures and drier weather will mean longer droughts and more water lost to evaporation. Drought, combined with overuse – some 70 percent of the river's capacity is siphoned away to water more than 3 million acres of farmland – already have produced some of the Colorado's lowest flows in more than 1,000 years, Udall told National Geographic. "Something very, very unusal is going on," he added, noting that today's low water levels should be a "kick in the pants" to spur both short-term and long-term water planning for the region. "Climate change has the potential to throw curveballs," Udall added. "To throw extreme events at us the likes of which we've never seen and we're not prepared to deal with."